The Boy Named John
by rain-days
Summary: A fic about Jonathan Crane's earlier years in the Narrows before he was a doctor. A look back to when he was a boy and teenager a glimpse into the past that caused him to become The Scarecrow.


_**Author's Note:** I decided to do a short fanfic-- well I have _intentions_ of it being short, anyway, probably ten chapters at most-- of Jonathan Crane's past just because... he's my favorite character/villian. Reading other fics, along with my own, there's usually a chapter or a few, or even just some sections, that reference his childhood-- I decided to make a whole fic about his childhood/ teen years. He became a villian after all, one without much emotion, with an alter-ego that wears a mask... there would have to be a few screwed up things that happened in his past to lead him onto that life, wouldn't there?! Sure. These are those moments... The moments that make a villian a villian, I suppose._

_(( By the way, this **Disclaimer** is to say I don't own Batman begins or anything to do with Batman. Not Johnathan Crane or... Well if it has to do with the movies/comics, I don't own it. If there's a character that WASN'T in the movies/comics, then I DO own them. I didn't read the comics, but if something happens in this fic happened in the comics or something such as that--_ probably_ a coincidence._

_(This isn't involved with my Batman Begins fics)(In advance, Sorry for the grammar/spelling errors if there are some. I'm not much for double-checking. They'll be fixed_ eventually,_ though. ) And Thanks for... giving my fic a chance by reading it._ _Now on to the story._

* * *

**Chapter One; **

_The Bow-Tie Bear_

* * *

"Where are you going?" His small voice ventured as he sat on his older sister's unmade bed.

She glanced at him and pushed forth a soft, reassuring smile to her lips before reaching high into her closet to grab a sweatshirt, letting the smile melt away. He fell silent when she didn't reply. Only sat on the bed, watching her. He didn't understand what she was doing, but it made the four year old sad. His blue eyes looked down to the dark brown teddy bear that was laying against her pillow. The red bow around its neck seemed oddly out of place. Satin red that gleamed in the dimmed room, lit by the single bulb on the ceiling. It's black eyes stared back at Jonathan– it looked sad, too.

She looked into her mirror and pulled her hair dyed-red off her neck and into a ponytail before pulling the navy blue sweatshirt over her head. Her brown eyes met her brother's gaze and she stopped, letting her arms drop to her sides. "I'm leaving, John." She inhaled deeply, turning to him slowly. Taking the few steps back to her bed. She kneeled in front of him, holding onto his hands. "Going away and I won't be coming back soon."She softly announced.

"When will you come back, Angela?"

She shook her head, "I– I don't think I will come back, John." She gazed into her brother's blue eyes, resting her chin on their hands. "I'm going to try to leave Gotham. Try to go... someplace else. Trying to find a better life." Angela waited, she didn't expect her brother to understand. He was only four. She waited for him to ask her more, ask her what she meant and what a 'better life' is. But he didn't ask. No confused look appeared on his face. There was only a solemn, sad look on his small face. It seemed as if he understood.

"I want to come with you." He said suddenly. "Take me with you, Angie. Can I come with? I want to come with." She felt a lump in her throat as she shook her head and told him she couldn't take him with her.

"Mommy would miss you, Johnny. She'd be sad without you. Besides, I don't know where I'm going exactly. We could be outside for quite a long time, you'd get cold and sick and then what would we do? Wouldn't you miss mommy, John?" He said nothing but he pulled his hands out of his sisters and pushed himself back against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest. She stood up, "Don't pout, Johnny... You know I love you, and I'd take you with me if I knew that we'd both be okay. I would... But I don't know how things will go and I'd rather know that you at least had clothes and food and a place to sleep, a warm bed than take you with me and have you getting sick. That wouldn't be nice of me to do with you."

She looked at her teddy-bear before grabbing it, and holding it out of for her brother to take.

"Mr. Wally needs someone to take care of him while I'm gone. Could you take care of him for me?" He slowly looked to the bear then to his sister before taking it out of her hand and holding in his lip. John touched the tip of its nose gingerly– the black velvet on its nose had worn away. "He'll keep you safe at night. You sleep with him and he'll help with bad dreams, okay? I want you to take care of him when he gets sick, okay, John?" He looked back to his sister. "As long as you have him, you have me, too. You talk to him when you have a problem and I'll hear it." She leaned forward and kissed the bear's head, then looked to John. He smiled slightly. She smiled in return and kissed her brother's cheek.

Angela moved away from her bed and grabbed her duffle bag, pulling the strap over her shoulder. She looked to her clock. Nine o' clock. She had bought a bus ticket– of which the bus would leave ant ten-fifteen. Her palms felt sweaty as she moved to her window, opening it. A summer night's breeze blew in gently, blowing a few loose papers from the top of her dresser to the floor. Her eyes skimmed up and down the road of the Narrows they lived on. "You take good care of Mommy, John. You tell her I love her and dad... When he comes home late at night, stay in your room and just play with your toys." She licked her lips as she began to climb out of the window.

John slid off her bed, holding onto the arm of the teddy bear. He moved to the window before she was out of it. She looked at John and he looked back at her. "I love you, Johnny." She said softly, kissing his forehead again. "I'll miss you..." She leaned out of the window and again said: "I love you." He stayed silent, watching her climb down to the pathetic-excuse for a yard. At the bottom, she turned and looked back up at him, blowing him a kiss. Angela slowly turned away, and started a run for the nearest ally.

The young Jonathan Crane watched his sister disappear behind the corner of an abandoned building. He stood in her bedroom alone, stood in front of the open window, holding loosely onto the bear she gave him. Slowly, he backed away from the window and crawled back on his sister's bed. He laid on his side, curling into a ball, hugging the teddy bear close to his chest. And for nearly forty-five minutes he laid in silence like that, staring at the paint-chipped wall before drifting into sleep.


End file.
